There’s a war for talent in the financial advisor space. It can certainly be challenging for practices that are looking to expand, but here are some tips to increase your chances of success from SmartAsset’s Rebecca Lake, CEFP.

The first focus should be on understanding your goals in order to help you evaluate candidates and make the best decision. Try to think about what key responsibilities will the new hire handle, and how will he or she be integrated into the firm. 

Next, it’s important to consider your company’s culture and assess candidate’s personalities to determine whether they would be a good fit. Then, Lake recommends creating an ideal candidate profile which can include an overview of their skills, experience, personality, and values. This will help you decide if the candidate would be accretive to thecompany’s culture. 

The next step is to invert the process and think about what a prospective candidate sees when looking at your company. These include compensation, work setup, flexibility, vacation policy, parental leave benefits, education opportunities, career training, etc. 

Once these steps are complete, it’s time to start investigating various recruitment channels. Often, the best strategy is to start with your network and professional colleagues as this can yield the best talent in the least amount of time with minimal cost. If that fails, then the other paths can be pursued. 

Finsum: For financial advisor practices that are dealing with a surge of growth, here are some tips on hiring and recruiting new advisors.

Most fixed income investors are waiting on a Fed pivot before getting aggressively bullish on long-duration fixed income. Others are studying economic data to see any indications of a slowdown which would presage a pivot and also push bonds higher.

However, they may be missing an opportunity in municipal bonds according to Columbia Investments. These are one way to take advantage of higher yields and the recent selloff in long-duration bonds. Further, they offer unique tax advantages especially when buying debt in your own state and/or municipality. Currently, the average yield for municipal debt is 3.5% which is quite generous considering its after-tax. 

This is above the historical average. Additionally, history shows that default rates are quite low with municipal debt. Finances at the state and local level remain quite solid, and there have been more upgrades than downgrades so far this year, indicating that finances continue to improve. 

This state of affairs is leading to lower supply for municipal debt. Whenever the Fed does decide to pivot, this is a key factor in why municipal debt is likely to outperform as demand will certainly surge. 

Finsum: Given the steep losses in fixed income over the past couple of months, many investors may be overlooking a very unique opportunity in municipal bonds. 

Perfecto. A perfect 10.

And that’s not to mention the “perfect investment?”, which, in all likelihood, you’d like to see manifest in, among other things, high returns and low risk. While such an investment – despite the development of all; sorts of methods and strategies – might be all but unattainable, modern portfolio strategy or MPT’s come as close as any, according to investopdia.com.

Looking at the expected risk and return of one specific stock falls short of the mark, according to MPT. Rather, sock your money in more than one; that way, an investor can reap the benefits of diversity. That includes shoring back the risk of the portfolio.

Probably not surprisingly, like pretty much everything else, MPT has its limits, according to yourwealth.com. Its perceived positives aside, in the clutches of economic downturns, certain aspects of MPT could be placed under a microscope. Not to mention the fact of when various asset classes don’t necessarily balance one another.

Nevertheless, potentially, MPT can smooth out the returns of a portfolio and put a lid on volatility while, perhaps, dispending earnings down the road.

What’s good for the goose is good for….financial advisors?

On one hand, they adroitly help clients navigate their future, but when it comes to their firms, well, they might not be quite so vigilant, according to smartasset.com.

Only 27% of financial advisors have a succession plan – or formal preparations to segue from the business -- at all, according to a 2018 report from the Financial Planning Association.

Consequently, it begs the question: with a gaggle of advisors closing in on hanging it up, what’s their legacy strategy?

Among key findings from financial advisors on SmartAsset’s platform:

The number of financial advisors with a succession plan has increased.

Most financial advisors without a succession plan intend on creating one at some point in the future

Financial advisor succession planning is not top-of-mind for most individuals.

Meantime, probably not surprisingly, women, it seems, are making a major mark in the financial terrain.

The essential role of women agents in furthering the cause of financial inclusion and fostering business growth for financial service providers was confirmed through a plethora of research studies done worldwide, according to findevgateway.org.

What’s more, female agents are the ones of choice among female customers, while agents serving more women customers derive more income and satisfaction on the job.

For Financial Planning, Tobias Salinger talks with Dominique Henderson, the founder of DJH Capital to share tips on growing a financial advisor brand. Henderson is a financial advisor, planner, coach, and content creator who just released an ebook on tactics to grow a financial advisor practice. 

His main advice centers around boosting leads, targeting a niche, and creating a long-term relationship. Henderson is a big believer in finding the ‘right room’ where you can be yourself. Here, your message and advise are more likely to resonate. 

Henderson also focuses on advisors who are in the early stages of their careers and shares advice on making the right connections, finding the best events to attend, and how a real practice works. Henderson sees an increase in the number of people who considering becoming financial advisors and planners. 

He believes that the initial difficulty of cold calling and taking meetings all days dissuade many from the career path. Therefore, Henderson wants to highlight alternative methods of getting started in the business. 

Rather than the focus on gathering assets, he believes that advisors should think about how thier advice and planning will help an individual and their families over the long-term in multiple facets of their life. 

Finsum: The financial advisor industry has too much of a focus on asset-gathering. Instead, there should be more focus on how the right advice can improve a client’s life trajectory